Catch



Oct. 6, 1964 w. AHLGREN 3,151,900

CATCH Filed Nov. 25, 1960 flxel cFU-alsreru 4 41%, A 44 AH fim United States Patent O 3,151,900 CATCH Axel W. Ahlgren, Rockford, 111., assignor to Amerock Corporation, Rockford, 111., a corporation of minors Filed Nov. 25, 196i Ser. No. 71,584 1 Ciaim. (Cl. 29'275) This invention relates to catches for holding a closure member such as a cabinet door releasably in a closed position. More particularly, it relates to catches of the type having a roller catch member supported in a housing and urged outwardly by a spring which yields to permit the roller to pass over a strike into the latched position behind the strike as the door is closed and back over the strike into the unlatched position when the door is opened.

One object of the invention is to provide in a catch of the above character novel means for supporting the .catch member for sliding in the housing so as to reduce Wear and increase the service life of the catch.

Another object of the invention is to provide a catch in which the components of the force exerted by the strike against the spring load of the catch are more effective in latching than in unlatching thus minimizing the force necessary to close the door and consequently reducing the slam occasioned by the closing.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary plan View of a catch embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 22 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the catch.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 1, showing another position of the catch.

For purposes of illustration, the invention is shown in the drawings incorporated in a catch including a cylindrical roller catch member 11 carried by a housing 12, which preferably is mounted on the inside of a door 13, and cooperating with a strike 16 fixed to a frame 14 to form a latch. The strike comprises a sheet metal plate 17 having a lug 18 intermediate its ends and an end flange 19 bent up behind the lug to form a recess 29 for receiving the roller. Upon closing of the door, the roller strikes the lug, yields laterally to pass over the lug, stops against the flange 19, and is seated in the recess 2% The housing 12 mounting the catch on the door is a sheet metal stamping forming spaced side walls 22, an end wall 23, a top wall 24 and an open end 25. Tabs 27 may be turned out from the side walls 22 and slotted at 28 to receive screws 29 to mount the catch adjustably on the inner surface of the door, which surface and tabs thus form the base of the housing. Alined elongated slots 30 are formed in the side walls adjacent the open end 25 of the housing, where the side walls project beyond the top wall 24-, and a pin 32 extends through the roller 11 along the axis thereof with the ends of the pin projecting into the slots 38. The pin is headed at each end to mount the roller in the housing.

The roller 11 is urged outwardly by a helical compression spring 35 disposed within the housing 12 and acting between the end wall 23 and the catch member. In this case, the forward end of the spring abuts against the crosspiece 37 of a U-shaped yoke 36, which may be made of molded nylon or similar material or may be a sheet metal stamping. The yoke 36 is disposed between the spring 35 and the roller 11 with its legs 38 parallel and spaced apart to straddle the roller and abut 3,1513% Patented Get. 6, 1964 "ice against the pin 32 on each side of the roller. The legs slide along the inside of the side wall 22 and the outer ends 39 are notched at 42 (FIG. 3) to receive the pin at opposite ends of the roller. Thus, the roller normally is held with the pin 32 at the outer end of the slots 3% As the roller yields laterally in passing over the lug 18, the pin slides back and forth in the slots.

In accordance with the present invention, the bearing surfaces between the pin 32 and the walls 31 of the slots 30 are increased so that wear on the pin and in the slots is greatly reduced. For this purpose, elongated lateral projections are formed on the yoke and extend into the slots. These projections carry the pin and slide longitudinally in the slots, thus providing a bearing surface on the slot walls much larger than that provided by the pin.

Herein, the lateral projections for sliding in the slots 30 are shoes 40, one formed on the outside of each leg 38 of the yoke as adjacent the open end of the latter. The shoes 44 preferably are shaped similarly to the shape of the mating slots 30, in this instance being generally rectangular with rounded ends 41. So that they will fit into the slots and slide longitudinally back and forth therein, the shoes are somewhat narrower and substantially shorter than the slots. The latter should be longer by at least the distance traveled by the roller as it passes over the lug 18 of the strike 16, since this is the minimum length of longitudinal sliding of the shoes.

The notches 42 in the outer ends of the legs 37 of the yoke extend through the rounded outer ends 41 of the shoes 49 (FIG. 3) so that the pin 32 is rotatably supported at each end by both the yoke and the shoe. In the normal position of the roller, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, each end of the pin is held between the leading end of the slot 30 and the bottom of the notch 42. As the roller yields to pass over the lug, as shown in FIG. 4, the pin bears only against the walls of the notch 42. Thus, there is no wearing contact between the pin and the walls of the slots. Further, the wearing surfaces provided by the shoes are amply large in ratio to the loads encountered by catches of this type, so wear between the slot walls and the shoes is slight.

The invention also contemplates placing the alined slots 39 at an angle with the base of the catch 10 so that the components of force exerted by the strike 16 on the roller 11 and against the spring 35 will be greater when the roller moves into latched position than when it is moving back past the strike into unlatched position. The force necessary to close the door, therefore, is smaller than that required to open it. The roller slips easily into latched position, thus minimizing the slam occasioned by the closing. On the other hand, because of the angle, the retaining force of the spring is relatively great.

As shown in the drawings, the slots 30 are disposed at an angle with the base of the catch 19, inclined inwardly from the open end of the housing toward the base. Since one end of the spring 35 abuts against the end wall 23 of the housing adjacent the base of the catch, and the other end is seated in a circular hole 34 in the rear end of the crosspiece 37 of the yoke 35, the axis of the spring 35 parallels the axes of the slots 3%. The force exerted by the strike 16 against the roller 11, and consequently against the spring 35, as the moving roller encounters the strike may be resolved into component forces, one of which parallels the axis of the spring. It will be seen that the inclination of the catch results in a larger effective component of any given force for latching than for unlatching because the force is directed less advantageously for the latter. As a result, a smaller force will be suflicient to latch the door.

It should be apparent that as the angle is increased, the force required to close the door decreases because the force against the roller 11 approaches a direction directly opposing the direction of the spring force and the effective component increases. Conversely, the force required to open the door increases because the component parallel to the axis of the spring 35 decreases. The opposite is true, of course, as the angle is decreased. While it is obvious that many angles might be used, I prefer an angle of approximately 15 degrees, as illustrated in the attached drawings.

It will be seen that the service life of a catch constructed in accordance with the invention will be greatly increased because the area of the wearing surfaces is substantially larger than in other roller catches. In addition, simply by inclining the slots in the side walls the lines of. force are located more advantageously for closing than for opening and closing with a minimum of slam is made possible.

I claim as my invention:

A catch forcoacting with a strike on a frame to hold a door in a closed position relative to the frame, said catch including, in combination, a base mountable on said door and adapted to be positioned adjacent said strike when the door is closed, a catch member on said base normally disposed in an extended position in engagement with the inner side of said. strike thereby to hold said door closed, means on said base guiding said member for movement along the base away from said strike and said extended position along a path inclined toward said base and the plane of the door, and a spring acting between said base and said member to urge the latter along said path toward said extended position whereby said member yields from said extended position in passing said strike during openin and closing of said door and said spring is more etfective in resisting opening than closing due to the incline of said path.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,261,789 Andersen Nov. 4, 1941 2,372,634 Breitenback et a1 Mar. 27, 1945 2,660,464 Rosenblum Nov. 24, 1953 2,788,981 Emerson Apr. 16, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,209,790 France Sept. 21, 1959 700,967 Great Britain Dec. 16, 1953 

